^ On
an 11 February:2006Steve
Fossett [22 Apr 1944~], US financier and distance-record setter, makes
an emergency landing of his plane [photo above] in Bournemouth,
UK, ending at 17:07 (local = UT) (about 270 km short of his goal in Manston)
a 42'469.5 km round-the-world record-setting eastward solo flight which
started at 07:22 (12:22 UT) on 08 February 2006 from Kennedy Space Center
in Cape Canaveral, Florida. — (060212)

2001
A Palestinian military court of three judges in Hebron sentences Hassan
Mohammed Hassan Musalam, 55, to death by firing squad for helping the Israel
Defense Forces during the four-month-old Intifada. 2001NY Times online publishes Chasing
Mexico's Dream Into Squalor about life on the Mexican side of the border.

2000 Britain strips Northern Ireland's Protestant-Catholic
government of power in to try and prevent its collapse over the IRA's refusal
to disarm.

2000 On the 10th anniversary of
his being freed from 27 years of political imprisonment, Nelson Mandela
returns to his rural village birthplace, Umtata, to open a museum dedicated
to his life. [photo >]

1999Pluto
is once again the farthest planet from the sun in our solar system (it had
been closer to the Sun than Neptune since 7 February 1979).

(1) At the beginning of today's closed Senate deliberation
session, 37 senators are still left to speak, and only eight complete their
statements during the morning session. Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) says
the pace seems to accelerate later, with more and more members submitting
their statements into the written record without speaking.

The Senate impeachment trial of President Bill Clinton will wrap up
Feb. 12, with final votes on the charges against the president set for
sometime after 11:00 EST.

Senators had hoped to vote late today, but the slow pace of the third
day of deliberations makes that impossible.

Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott says he will be among the final speakers
Feb. 12. Among the others will be Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D-South
Dakota) and Sen. Robert Byrd (D-West Virginia).

(2) Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-Connecticut) says that after
the vote on the articles of impeachment against Clinton on Feb. 12, he and
Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-California) and Robert Bennett (R-Utah) plan to
introduce a censure motion, even though its prospect for passage are dim.

Lieberman says the senators will request a "suspension of the
rules", which requires a two-thirds majority for passage, and that
is how they would bring the censure motion to the floor.

Knowing it is unlikely they can get a two-thirds vote, Lieberman
says he would be "disappointed and frustrated that a parliamentary
manuever is being used to block the will of the majority of the Senate."

Lieberman says if and when that procedure fails, the senators will
look to create a "declaration of censure" that could be entered
into the Congressional Record but not voted on, or be sent to the president,
or both. Any senator would be able to sign on to the "declaration
of censure."

(3) Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott says he finds a New
York Times report that President Bill Clinton will work to defeat his political
foes in the House in 2000 "deeply troubling."

According to the Times report, a Clinton adviser said the president
is so angry with House Republicans over his impeachment, he has vowed
to work to defeat his foes in the 2000 election and help the Democrats
win back the House.

"It is deeply troubling that the president views closure of this
constitutional process as an opportunity for revenge," Lott (R-Mississippi)
says.

White House Press Secretary Joe Lockhart dismisses the report, saying,
"We're a little bit smarter than that." "I can't think of a worse,
more dumb strategy than going after people based on whether they were
a House manager or not," Lockhart says. "You look at the House
managers and the vast majority are in safe seats or unopposed seats.
We're going to go out, do the best that we can at articulating a message,
and do it based on where we can win seats."

(4) Sen. Orrin Hatch is calling for an investigation into
whether Justice Department officials leaked word to the press about a potential
probe of Independent Counsel Ken Starr's office.

Hatch, who has a meeting scheduled for Feb. 12 with
Deputy Attorney General Eric Holder, puts the Justice Department's second-ranking
official on notice to be prepared to discuss Starr. "Needless to say,
I am very concerned," Hatch writes Holder. "These press accounts
once again call into question the Department's integrity and support the
impression many people have that this is a partisan Justice Department."
If "there is new, credible evidence supporting any allegations of
wrongdoing by the OIC," Hatch says, referring to the Office of Independent
Counsel, "then an investigation should be conducted. Whether the evidence
in this matter warrants investigation is unclear."

Hatch refers to reports that detail the focus of the potential
investigation: namely, whether Starr's investigators violated Justice
Department guidelines in their initial interview with Monica Lewinsky,
the ex-White House intern who had a relationship with President Bill
Clinton.

The other question is whether Starr's office withheld details about
contacts with Paula Jones' attorneys when they asked Attorney General
Janet Reno to investigate the Lewinsky matter.

The senator, a Utah Republican, also questions whether the Justice
Department's Office of Professional Responsibility should conduct the
probe of Starr, alleging that leaks potentially came from that office.

Justice officials have no immediate comment. But sources say a leaks
investigation is already under way.

(5) Attorney General Janet Reno, without commenting
directly on reports that her department is probing possible prosecutorial
missteps by Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr, pledges there would be no
interference with his investigation.

At her weekly news conference, Reno repeatedly parries questions about
news reports saying the Justice Department would investigate whether Starr
overstepped his boundaries in the early days of the Monica Lewinsky investigation.
"As I have said all along, I try not to comment with respect to the
independent counsel's function," Reno tells reporters. "I will,
however, continue to look to see how I may comment in a way that is fair
to all concerned, consistent with the law and consistent with ethical
considerations."

Reno seems somewhat frustrated that she could not go further. "If
I can determine a way to properly make a comment concerning this matter
that would be fair to all concerned and would adhere to the law, I will
do so," she says.

But the attorney general does say no one would impede Starr's continuing
work. "I have tried my level best to do this the right way, to ensure
that there was no effort whatsoever to interfere with his investigation,"
she says, "and I am convinced that nothing has been done, but I will
continue to work to ensure that result."

Under the law establishing independent counsels for some political
cases, the attorney general cannot take any disciplinary action against
the prosecutor short of firing. Reno has stated that she would not undertake
an investigation of an independent counsel unless the charges were severe
enough to merit firing. Several news organizations, including The Associated
Press, report that the Justice Department has advised Starr it intends
to investigate the actions of his office, including the Jan. 16, 1998,
offer to Ms. Lewinsky of an immunity deal conditioned on her not discussing
it with her lawyer, Frank Carter.
(6)Matt Drudge
reports:

WASH POST: INCREASINGLY UNLIKELY THAT STARR WILL INDICT CLINTON
It now appears increasingly unlikely that Starr would take the highly
controversial step of indicting Clinton during the 23 months remaining
in the president's term, if he were to charge him at all, the WASHINGTON
POST is reporting Friday editions.
"The recent departures of some of Starr's senior aides lends weight to
the idea that there is no plan in place to pounce," Susan Schmidt and
Ruth Marcus report in the POST.
"Brett Kavanaugh and Robert Bittman, who handled the Lewinsky investigation,
are leaving. Deputy Jackie Bennett and prosecutor Solomon Wisenberg, both
key lawyers in the Lewinsky investigation, are also said to be hunting
for jobs, suggesting that they do not expect the office to be embroiled
in the first-ever prosecution of a president any time soon."
Impacting Friday...

'JANE DOE' DITCHES NBC, TALKS TO WALL STREET JOURNAL
Apparently tired of waiting for NBC NEWS to air an interview the went
down more than 3 weeks ago, Juanita Broaddrick, aka Jane Doe #5, has given
a preliminary interview to the WALL STREET JOURNAL, the DRUDGE REPORT
has learned.
Broaddrick is talking to WSJ's Dorothy Rabinowitz in Arkansas.
Details of the conversations could not be learned Thursday night.
FOOTNOTE: CBS's 60 MINUTES is also circling Broaddrick.
^

TRIPP TALKS: 'I DID IT FOR MY COUNTRY'
"I did it because I am a patriot," Linda Tripp tells NBC's TODAY show
in a tapped [sic] interview set to air Friday morning.
"Lucianne Goldberg told me to go to Ken Starr," Linda Tripp tells the
NEW YORK TIMES in another one set to run on Page One.
Tripp, who has been bottled-up and ready to pop, is unloading in the nation's
media outlets.
Tripp tells TODAY's Jamie Gangel in a two-segment interview: "It was worth
it to me to do what I considered to be my patriotic duty. And, yes, I
would do it again."
One insider who was present during the taping of the interview says Tripp
was "strong" and "stayed calm" throughout the session.
But according to publishing sources, Tripp broke down in tears toward
the end of her two-hours with the TIMES' Don Van Natta Jr.
"Mrs. Tripp describes herself as Ms. Lewinsky's protector, perhaps her
'only friend,'" writes Van Natta.
Tripp tells the TIMES: "I always saw Monica as a kid, I always saw her
as a lost soul. I believe she and the country will never understand that
I believed this was in her best interest, and that makes me very sad."
"I am so fond of Monica," Tripp said. "I remain as fond of her today as
I always have been. And I wish her nothing but the best."
TODAY SHOW MOMENTS:
TRIPP: "The public has absolutely no idea what Monica endured. It's not
out there. As I said, the histrionics, the hysteria, the throwing of lamps,
the damage to herself. These things are not out there. People think this
is consensual and that I inserted myself somehow. It was not. If my daughter
found herself in a situation such as this where she was being abused,
used, discarded, I would hope someone would come in and help her."
GANGEL: "Are you saying President Clinton abused Monica?"
TRIPP: "Absolutely. Emotionally abused Monica and discarded her."
GANGEL: "When all is said and done, Monica's life has been ruined. President
Clinton remains in office. The country has gone through a year of scandal,
which many people blame you for. Was it worth it?"
TRIPP: "First of all, I take exception to the fact that I brought this
all about. These were choices made by the President of the United States.
For me to actively engage in a conspiracy to circumvent anyone's civil
rights or to perjure myself and commit a felony, those were not an option
for me. I, as a citizen, should not be afraid of my President. Was it
all worth it to me? It was worth it to me to do what I considered to be
my patriotic duty. And yes, I would do it all again."
GANGEL: "So no regrets?"
TRIPP: "Of course there are regrets. This is a tragic year for all of
us. But I would do it again."
1996 In Philadelphia, one day after losing Game 1 to IBM computer
“Deep Blue,” world chess champion Garry Kasparov, now with
White and using the Catalan opening, defeats the machine in Game 2 and
evens their six-game series in Philadelphia at one victory apiece. (Kasparov
loses on 10 Feb Game
1 — wins on 11 Feb Game
2 — draws on 13 Feb Game
3 — draws on 14 Feb Game
4 — wins on 16 Feb Game
5 — wins on 17 Feb Game
6) The game:
1.Nf3 d5 — 2.d4 e6 — 3.g3 c5 — 4.Bg2 Nc6 — 5.O-O Nf6 — 6.c4 dxc4
— 7.Ne5 Bd7 — 8.Na3 cxd4 — 9.Naxc4 Bc5 — 10.Qb3 O-O — 11.Qxb7 Nxe5 — 12.Nxe5
Rb8 — 13.Qf3 Bd6 — 14.Nc6 Bxc6 — 15.Qxc6 e5 — 16.Rb1 Rb6 — 17.Qa4 Qb8
— 18.Bg5 Be7 — 19.b4 Bxb4 — 20.Bxf6 gxf6 — 21.Qd7 Qc8 — 22.Qxa7 Rb8 —
23.Qa4 Bc3 — 24.Rxb8 Qxb8 — 25.Be4 Qc7 — 26.Qa6 Kg7 — 27.Qd3 Rb8 — 28.Bxh7
Rb2 — 29.Be4 — Rxa2 — 30.h4 — Qc8 — 31.Qf3 — Ra1 — 32.Rxa1 — Bxa1 — 33.Qh5
— Qh8 — 34.Qg4+ — Kf8 — 35.Qc8+ — Kg7 — 36.Qg4+ — Kf8 — 37.Bd5 Ke7 — 38.Bc6
Kf8 — 39.Bd5 Ke7 — 40.Qf3 Bc3 — 41.Bc4 Qc8 — 42.Qd5 Qe6 — 43.Qb5 Qd7 —
44.Qc5+ Qd6 — 45.Qa7+Qd7 — 46.Qa8Qc7 — 47.Qa3+Qd6
— 48.Qa2f5 — 49.Bxf7e4 — 50.Bh5Qf6 — 51.Qa3+Kd7 — 52.Qa7+Kd8 — 53.Qb8+Kd7
— 54.Be8+Ke7 — 55.Bb5Bd2 — 56.Qc7+Kf8 — 57.Bc4Bc3 — 58.Kg2Be1 — 59.Kf1Bc3
— 60.f4exf3 — 61.exf3Bd2 — 62.f4Ke8 — 63.Qc8+Ke7 — 64.Qc5+ Kd8 — 65.Bd3
Be3 — 66.Qxf5 Qc6 — 67.Qf8+ Kc7 — 68.Qe7+ Kc8 — 69.Bf5+ Kb8 — 70.Qd8+
Kb7 — 71.Qd7+ Qxd7 — 72.Bxd7 Kc7 — 73.Bb5 Black Resigns
1993 US President Clinton appoints the first woman Attorney General,
Janet Reno [< photo], who would become one more Attorney
General infamous for misuses and abuses of authority. Hers were committed
in at least three cases: Waco
[28 Feb 93 — 19 Apr 93 followed by prosecution of victims and absolution
of mass murderers], Ruby Ridge [prosecution of victims and absolution
of the 21-22 Aug 1992 murderers], Elián [climaxing
on 22 Apr 2000]. 1993 First
annual World Day of the Sick. —(080211)

^1993
Italian corruption scandal forces party leader’s resignation
Bettino Craxi, who served as Italy's
first Socialist prime minister from 1983 to 1987, resigns as leader
of the Italian Socialist Party after being implicated in the country’s
growing corruption scandal. In November of 1995, Craxi, who fled to
Tunisia shortly after leaving politics, is indicted on corruption
charges along with seventy-four other individuals, many of them present
or former government officials. Silvio Berlusconi, the Italian opposition
leader who held power in Italy after the Christian Democrats fell
in 1994, is among those implicated. In December of 1995, Berlusconi,
like Craxi before him, is forced to resign. In the subsequent trial,
the intimate connection between the government and the Italian Mafia
is exposed, and in some cases the differences between these two organizations
are heavily blurred. In 1998, Craxi is tried in absentia, convicted,
and sentenced to a four-year term and an $11.2 million fine. Berlusconi
is convicted of bribery, tax evasion, and illegal contributions to
Craxi’s Socialist Party, and is sentenced to approximately three years
in prison and a $5.6 million fine.

^1990
Mandela released from prison
In South Africa, Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela, the leader of the opposition
to the Afrikaner government’s racist policies of apartheid, is released
from Robben Island prison after serving twenty-seven years. In 1944,
Nelson, a lawyer, joined the African National Congress (ANC), the
oldest black political organization in South Africa, where he became
a leader of Johannesburg’s youth wing of the ANC. In 1952, he became
deputy national president of the ANC, advocating nonviolent resistance
to apartheid  South Africa’s institutionalized system of white
supremacy and racial segregation. However, after the massacre of peaceful
black demonstrators at Sharpeville in 1960, Nelson helped organize
a paramilitary branch of the ANC to engage in guerrilla warfare against
the white minority government. In 1961, he was arrested for treason,
and, although acquitted, he was arrested again in 1964 for sabotage
and was convicted along with several other ANC leaders at the Rivonia
Trial. Sentenced to life in prison, he became a symbol of the South
African and international movement to end apartheid. In 1989, F. W.
de Klerk became South African president, and set about dismantling
apartheid. De Klerk lifted the ban on the ANC, suspended executions,
and in February of 1990, ordered the release of Nelson Mandela. Mandela
subsequently led the ANC in its negotiations with the minority government
for an end to apartheid and the establishment of a multiracial government.
In 1993, Mandela and de Klerk were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace
Prize, and in 1994, the ANC won an electoral majority in the country’s
first free elections and Mandela was elected South African president.

^1975
First woman leader of UK Conservative Party
Margaret Thatcher is elected leader
of the Conservative Party, becoming the first female leader of a political
party in British history. Thatcher first entered British politics
in 1959 when she was elected as a Conservative MP for Finchley, an
area of North London. During the 1960s, Thatcher rose rapidly in the
ranks of the Conservative Party, and in 1967, joined the shadow cabinet
sitting in opposition to Harold Wilson’s ruling Labor cabinet. With
the victory of the Conservative Party under Edward Health in 1970,
Thatcher became secretary of state for education and science. In 1974,
the Labor Party returned to power, and she served as joint shadow
chancellor before replacing Edward Health as the leader of the Conservative
Party in February of 1975. Under her leadership, the Conservative
Party shifted further right in its politics, called for privatization
of nationalized industries and utilities, and promised a resolute
defense of Britain’s interests abroad. In 1979, Thatcher was named
Britain’s first female prime minister as the Conservatives won 399
seats in Parliament overall. Her government began a rapid program
of privatization and government cutbacks, winning acclaim from some
quarters, but also contributing to the most polarized British society
in decades. In 1983, despite the worst unemployment figures for half
a decade, Thatcher was reelected to a second term thanks to the British
victory in the Falklands War with Argentina, and, in 1987, to a third
term thanks to an upswing in the economy. In 1990, the unpopularity
of her poll tax, coupled with her uncompromising opposition to further
British integration into the European Community, led to the victory
of John Major as Conservative Party leader. Following the defeat,
Thatcher resigned, ending the longest continuous tenure of a British
prime minister in 150 years.

^1970
Japan becomes 4th nation to launch a satellite.
From the Kagoshima Space Center on
the east coast of Japan’s Ohsumi Peninsula, Ohsumi, Japan’s first
satellite, is successfully launched into an orbit around the earth.
The achievement makes Japan the world’s fourth space power, after
the Soviet Union in 1957, the United States in 1958, and France in
1965. Two months after Japan’s launching of Ohsumi, China becomes
the world’s fifth space power when it successfully launches Mao 1
into space. The satellite, named after Mao Zedong, the leader of Communist
China, orbits the earth broadcasting the Chinese patriotic song, The
East is Red, once a minute.

^
1945 US-UK-USSR Yalta Conference ends. US
President Franklin Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and
Soviet leader Josef Stalin sign the Yalta Agreement during World War II
A week of intensive bargaining by the leaders
of the three major Allied powers ends in Yalta, a Soviet resort town on
the Black Sea. It was the second conference of the "Big Three" Allied leaders
 US President Franklin D. Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston
Churchill, and Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin  and the war had progressed
mightily since their last meeting, which had taken place in Tehran in late
1943. What was then called the Crimea
conference was held at the old summer palace of Czar Nicholas II on the
outskirts of Yalta, in the Ukraine. With victory over Germany three months
away, Churchill and Stalin were more intent on dividing Europe into zones
of political influence than in addressing military considerations. Germany
would be divided into four zones of occupation administered by the three
major powers and France and was to be thoroughly demilitarized and its war
criminals brought to trial. The Soviets were to administer those European
countries they liberated but promised to hold free elections. The British
and Americans would oversee the transition to democracy in countries such
as Italy, Austria, and Greece. Final plans were made for the establishment
of the United Nations, and a charter conference was scheduled to begin in
San Francisco in April. A frail President
Roosevelt, two months from his death, concentrated his efforts on gaining
Soviet support for the US war effort against Japan. The secret US atomic
bomb project had not yet tested a weapon, and it was estimated that an amphibious
attack against Japan could cost hundreds of thousands of American lives.
After being assured of an occupation zone in Korea, and possession of Sakhalin
Island and other territories historically disputed between Russia and Japan,
Stalin agreed to enter the Pacific War within two to three months of Germany's
surrender. Most of the Yalta accords
remained secret until after World War II, and the items that were revealed,
such as Allied plans for Germany and the United Nations, were generally
applauded. Roosevelt returned to the United States exhausted, and when he
went to address the US Congress on Yalta he was no longer strong enough
to stand with the support of braces. In that speech, he called the conference
"a turning point, I hope, in our history, and therefore in the history of
the world." He would not live long enough, however, to see the iron curtain
drop along the lines of division laid out at Yalta. In April, he traveled
to his cottage in Warm Springs, Georgia, to rest and on 12 April died of
a cerebral hemorrhage. On 16 July,
the United States successfully tested an atomic bomb in the New Mexico desert.
On 06 August, it dropped one of these deadly weapons on Hiroshima, Japan.
Two days later, true to its pledge at Yalta, the Soviet Union declared war
against Japan. The next day, the United States dropped another atomic bomb
on Nagasaki, and the Soviets launched a massive offensive against the Japanese
in Manchuria. On 15 August, the combination of the US atomic attacks and
the Soviet offensive forced a Japanese surrender. At the end of the month,
US troops landed in Japan unopposed.
When the full text of the Yalta agreements were released in the years following
World War II, many criticized Roosevelt and Churchill for delivering Eastern
Europe and North Korea into communist domination by conceding too much to
Stalin at Yalta. The Soviets never allowed free elections in postwar Eastern
Europe, and communist North Korea was sharply divided from its southern
neighbor. Eastern Europe, liberated
(actually just suffering a change of oppressors) and occupied by the Red
Army, would have become Soviet satellites regardless of what had happened
at Yalta. Because of the atomic bomb, however, Soviet assistance was not
needed to defeat the Japanese. Without the Soviet invasion of the Japanese
Empire in the last days of World War II, North Korea and various other Japanese-held
territories that fell under Soviet control undoubtedly would have come under
the sway of the United States. At Yalta, however, Roosevelt had no guarantee
that the atomic bomb would work, and so he sought Soviet assistance in what
was predicted to be the costly task of subduing Japan. Stalin, more willing
than Roosevelt to sacrifice troops in the hope of territorial gains, happily
accommodated his American ally, and by the end of the war had considerably
increased Soviet influence in East Asia.

^1937
First union contract in the US automobile industry
After a difficult forty-four-day sit-down
strike at the Fisher Body plant in Flint, Michigan, General Motors
President Alfred P. Sloan signed the first union contract in the history
of the US automobile industry. Organized by the Union of Auto Workers
(UAW), the strike was intended to force GM to give ground to its workers.
GM workers had protested before, and they’d been fired and replaced
for it. The UAW decided they needed to achieve the total shutdown
of a working plant in order to bring company executives to the negotiating
table. On New Year’s Eve, forty-five minutes after lunch, union leaders
ordered the assembly line halted. Executives kept the belts running,
but the workers wouldn’t work. GM turned to the courts, winning an
injunction against the workers on the grounds that the sit-down strike
was unconstitutional. The injunction was overturned when it was discovered
that the judge who presided in the case owned over $200,000 of GM
stock. Twelve days after the strike had begun, with the workers still
dug in, Sloan ordered the heat in the building turned off and barred
the workers access to food from the outside. Police, armed with tear
gas and guns, surrounded the building. The police fired  first
tear gas and later bullets  into the plant. Sympathetic picketers
outside, many of them family members of the strikers, helped to break
all the windows in the plant by hurling rocks from were they stood.
Others, braver still, broke the picket line with their automobiles
to form a barricade that prevented the police vehicles from overrunning
the building the strikers occupied. Finally, days after the Battle
of the Running Bulls, as the violent confrontation came to be known,
Michigan Governor Frank Murphy called in the National Guard with the
intention of quelling any further violence. The presence of the National
Guard bolstered the strikers’ confidence. Realizing the futility of
their position, GM executives came to the bargaining table. After
a week of negotiations over which Governor Murphy personally presided,
an agreement between GM and the UAW was reached.

1935 -11ºF (-24ºC), Ifrane, Morocco (African record low)

^1933
Porsche is asked by Hitler to design a car.
Adolf Hitler asks Ferdinand Porsche
to design a car able to cruise at 100 km/h, consume no more than 6
l/100 km, an air-cooled engine, have room for five people, and have
be priced at less than 1000 marks. Ferdinand agreed and started to
gather his team of engineers. They soon had many ideas and theories
to start the Project called "Project No. 12." They built many prototypes
for the Zundapp and the NSU companies, which were very interested
in this car. Porsche felt that this was an impossible act, but he
turned around and accepted the challenge with the help of Wilhelm
von Opel. He was also concerned about where his car would be built,
since there were no plant that could produce this car. Hitler and
a few others heeded to hic concern and summoned Deutsche Arbeitsfront
to build a factory in Wolfsburg solely for his car, or the KdF-Wagen,
as it was called then. Porsche could then see his dream starting to
come true. They quickly built the chassis and the body without any
trouble, but the engine was giving them a lot of trouble. Within 20
months they built and designed no fewer then a dozen different engines.
Porsche explored many possiblities, but soon came to the decision
of the flat four designed by Kales in 1933. With the engine and body
done they had their first version of the beetle ready. In 1939 they
presented the KdF-Wagen in the Berlin Motor Show. In the later years
many versions of the beetle were made, many for use in Hitler's Military.

^1903
A trust busting victory.
The Expedition Act, which prioritizes anti-trust suits filed in the
nation's circuit courts, is passed. It is seemingly another victory
for President Theodore Roosevelt in his crusade against Big Business.
Starting in 1902, with his decision to support disgruntled mine workers
in their cause against coal operators, Roosevelt had increasingly
moved to marshal his power against business interests. Under his charge,
the Justice Department filed forty-five anti-trust suits; Roosevelt
also led the successful crusade to break up Standard Oil's monopoly
(1907). These maneuvers proved popular with the public, not only fueling
a growing distaste for the practices of Big Business, but also earning
Roosevelt a sterling reputation as a tough-talking "trust-buster."
However, some historians have questioned Roosevelt's trust-busting
credentials, pointing out that a number of the Justice Department's
anti-trust suits were dropped after business leaders plead their case
to the president. Roosevelt viewed "bigness" as a fait accompli; his
trust-busting stance was borne of political expediency, as well as
the desire to preserve the government's tacit regulatory control of
corporate America.

^1858
The Virgin Mary appears to Saint Bernadette
This is the day on which, in
Lourdes, France, Marie
Bernarde Soubirous [07 Jan 1844 – 16 Apr 1879], from a very
poor family, would claim to have first seen, in the Massabielle grotto,
the apparition of a beautiful lady who would, in her 16th apparition
(25 March 1858), state “Qué soï l'immaculé councepciou”,
i.e. that she is the Immaculate Conception, i.e. (according to the
tradinional belief of the Catholic Church, defined as a dogma by Pope
Pius
IX [13 May 1792 – 07 Feb 1878] in his constitution Ineffabilis
Deus of 08 December 1854) the Virgin Mary, the mother of
Jesus Christ and a central figure in his legitimate religion (Roman
Catholic) as well as in a few of the other denominations that are
considered Christian (because they believe in part of the truths revealed
by Christ). The apparitions, that total eighteen by 16 July 1858,
occur in a grotto of a huge rock promontory near Lourdes, France.
Marie explains that the Virgin Mary revealed herself as the Immaculate
Conception, asked that a chapel be built on the site of the vision,
and told the girl to drink from a fountain in the grotto, which Marie
apparently discovers by digging into the earth. Although her claims
garner widespread attention, the church authorities, skeptical of
her visions, subject her to severe examinations and abuse. After years
of mistreatment at the hands of the authorities and the curious public,
she is finally allowed to enter the convent of Notre-Dame de Nevers,
where she would die. The site of the manifestations subsequently becomes
the most famous modern shrine of the Virgin Mary, and, on 08 December
1933, Marie Bernarde Soubirous is canonized as Saint Bernadette by
the Roman Catholic Church. Today, millions travel to Lourdes every
year to visit Saint Bernadette’s grotto.
 Près du village pyrénéen de Lourdes, une jeune femme
apparait à Bernadette Soubirous, dans une grotte appelée Massabielle.
La petite bergère assistera dans les semaines qui suivirent à plusieurs
apparitions du même type. Au cours de l'une d’elles, la Dame lui confia:
«Je suis l'Immaculée Conception» (c'est-à-dire épargnée à la naissance
par le péché originel). La bergère rapporta ces mots à son curé sans
savoir que le pape Pie IX avait proclamé quatre ans plus tôt le dogme
de l'Immaculée Conception de Marie, la mère du Christ. Les apparitions
de la grotte miraculeuse stimulèrent la dévotion à Marie... et firent
de Lourdes l'un des plus célèbres pèlerinages du monde.
DECREE
according to which is granted a daily Plenary
Indulgence on the 150th Anniversary of the Apparition of the Blessed
Virgin Mary at Lourdes to the Christian faithful who, devoutly and
in accordance with the established conditions (Confession within one
week, Communion, no attachment to sin. prayer for the intentions of
the Pope), from 02 to 11 February 2008, visit a blessed image of the
Blessed Virgin Mary of Lourdes solemnly displayed for public veneration
in any church, oratory, grotto or suitable place, and in the presence
of that image perform some pious act of Marian devotion, or at least
pause to reflect for an appropriate length of time, concluding with
the Our Father, some legitimate form of the Creed, and the Jubilee
prayer or some other Marian invocation.

^1588
Pope Sixtus
V decrees reform of the curia by Immense aeterni
Before his pontificate, ecclesiastical
business was generally discharged by the pope in consistory with the
cardinals. There were, indeed, a few permanent cardinalitial congregations,
but the sphere of their competency was very limited. In his Bull "Immensa
aeterni Dei", of 11 February, 1588, he established fifteen permanent
congregations, some of which were concerned with spiritual, others
with temporal affairs. They were the Congregations: (1) of the Inquisition;
(2) of the Segnatura; (3) for the Establishment of Churches; (4) of
Rites and Ceremonies; (5) of the Index of Forbidden Books; (6) of
the Council of Trent (7); of the Regula

1892 Pike's Peak (Colorado) is set aside as a forest preserve. 1922 Insulin
is discovered by Canadian surgeon Frederick Banting and his assistant Charles
Best. 1937 General Motors agreed to recognize the United Automobile Workers
Union, thereby ending the current sit-down strike against them. 1942 The
comic book, "Archie" makes its debut. 1945 During World War II, the Yalta
Agreement was signed by US President Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston
Churchill and Soviet leader Josef Stalin. 1960 Jack Paar walked off while
live on the air on the "Tonight Show," with four minutes left. He did this
in response to censors cutting out a four-minute joke from the show the
night before. 1968 The new 20,000 seat Madison Square Garden officially
opened in New York. This was the fourth Garden. 1975 Margaret Thatcher becomes
the first female leader of a British political party when she is elected
leader of the Conservative Party. 1979 Nine days after the Ayatollah Ruhollah
Khomeini returned to Iran (after 15 years in exile) power was seized by
his followers. 1984 The tenth Space Shuttle mission returned to Earth safely.
1990 After 27 years in prison, South African opposition leader Nelson Mandela
is released. 1993 Janet Reno was appointed to the position of attorney general
by US President Clinton. She was the first female to hold the position.
1575 King Frederick of Denmark offers island of
Hveen to Tycho Brahe 1573 first European, Francis
Drake sees the Pacific (from Panama) 1543 Charles
V and Henry VIII sign anti-French covenant 1543
Battle at Wayna Daga: Ethiopian and Portuguese troops defeat Moslem army
1531Henry
VIII recognized as supreme head of the Church in England 0731Pope
Saint Gregory II is buried.

2008 Thomas Peter“Tom”
Lantos[01 Feb 1928–], secular Jew born in Hungary. He
escaped twice from a forced labor camp in Szob, the second time successfully.
He managed to reach Raoul
Wallenberg [04 Aug 1912 – ¿16 Jul 1947?] who sheltered
him and had him impersonate a Nazi sympathizer to take food to hidden Jews.
Lantos came to the US in August 1947. He was a Democratic member of the
US House of Representatives (from California) from 05 January 1981 until
his death. —(080211)2008 Rebel leaderAlfredo
Reinado[1967–]; another rebel; and a guard of
President Jose
Manuel Ramos-Horta [26 Dec 1949~] of East Timor, who is critically wounded
in a 07:00 (22:00 UT on 10 Feb) attack on his home by two carloads of rebels.
The same morning, an attack on Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao and his motorcade
fails. —(080211)2006 Peter Benchley, 65, US author whose most famous book
is the novel Jaws. —(060308)2005 James R. Porter,
born on 02 January 1935, of cancer while be held prisoner pending a hearing
to determine if he should be committed as a sexually dangerous person after
completing in 2004 the prison sentence he received after pleading guilty
in 1993 to molesting 28 children (those within the statute of limitations).
He had molested children before being ordained a priest, while he was a
priest of the Catholic diocese of Fall River, Massachusetts, and after he
was laicized at his request in 1974 and married (in the Church) in 1976.
2005 (Friday) 13 persons, by a pickup truck bomb loaded
with vegetables and parked in front of a Shiite mosque in Balad Ruz, Iraq,
which explodes as worshipers are leaving the mosque and Iraqi collaborationist
troops come near the truck. Some 40 persons are wounded.2005
Eleven persons inside a bakery in the mostly Shiite neighborhood
New Baghdad of Baghdad, Iraq, shot by attackers who enter and fire on the
bakery workers after blocking the street in front of the shop with several
cars. 2004: At least 48 persons, including suicide car bomber,
in Baghdad, Iraq, at 07:25, among volunteers outside a recruitment center
waiting to apply to the Iraqi army being organized by the US occupiers.
54 persons are wounded.2004
Three Palestinians (one militant and two innocent bystanders) in
Israeli attack in the Rafah area along the Gaza-Egypt border, for the stated
purpose of searching for arms-smuggling tunnels. There are no Israeli casualties.2004 Mohammed Hilles, 18; Hani Abu Skhaila; and ten other Palestinians,
in the Shajaiyeh neighborhood of Gaza City, in Israeli attack with tanks
which started before dawn and continue until early afternoon. The dead are
ten Palestinian resistance fighters and two innocent bystanders. Shkaila
was a senior Hamas activist. Mohammed Hilles was the son of Ahmed Hilles,
the top leader of Fatah in Gaza. More than 40 persons are wounded. There
are no Israeli casualties.2003 Captain Shahar Shmul,
24 [< photo], commander of a company of the Israeli armored
corps, shot in Bethlehem, West Bank. Shmul's patrol had been chasing a stolen
Israeli car. Near the Church of the Nativity, the driver fled on foot, leaving
the engine running. Fearing that the vehicle had been booby-trapped, Shmul
summoned a sapper unit. He also stationed three jeeps at the entrances to
the square to prevent Palestinians from entering, so that no one would be
injured if the car blew up. A few Palestinian youths threw stones at the
soldiers. At about 21:00, a Palestinian ran out of one of the alleys north
of the square and fired three rifle bullets from a distance of about 30
meters. Two of the bullets hit the armored jeep that Shmul was standing
next to, the third hit him in the neck, severing a major blood vessel. He
died almost instantly. 2001 Tzahi Sasson, 35, Israeli
shot in the head by Palestinians at 19:30 on the bridge joining the two
tunnels on the Tunnel Road just south of Jerusalem. He lost control of his
car and overturned. Magen David Adom paramedics treated Sasson under fire
and rushed him to Hadassah Ein Karem hospital, where he died on the operating
table. Sasson was a resident of Kibbutz Rosh Tzurim in Gush Etzion.2000 Leo, 10, bichon frisé dog, thrown into traffic
after being snatched from the lap of its owner, Sara McBurnett, by the driver
of another car who just had a minor collision with her near the San José,
California, airport. Public indignation raises some $115'000 in reward money
and leads to the identification of the perpetrator, Andrew Burnett, 26,
who would be jailed from 04 January 2001 on charges connected to the disappearance
of one of his employer Pacific Bell's vans, that was filled with $68'000
worth of equipment.
On 13 July 2001, Burnett would be sentenced to the maximum penalty in California
for cruelty to animals: 3 years in prison. [picture: a bichon frisé >][Burnett deserved that and more. But
what did the mass murderers of My Lai deserve, who never served that much
in prison, for the mass murder of defenseless Vietnamese old men, women,
and children, including babies? What did killer cops deserve, who were acquitted
claiming that they perceived their unarmed victim as a threat?] "It
wasn't just a dog to me," Sara McBurnett sobbed during the trial. "For me
it was my child. He killed my baby right in front of me." [Societies
for the protection of children were founded long after societies for the
prevention of cruelty to animals.]1996 Kebby Musokotwane, prime minister of Zambia (1985-1989)1977 Louis J M Beel, 74, Dutch premier (1946-48, 58-59) 1974 Smirnov,
mathematician.1949 Christian Bérard, French
artist born on 20 August 1902.1948 Sergey Mikhailovich Eisenstein,
50, Russian film director and theorist, born on 23 January 1898, whose work
includes the three film classics Potemkin (1925), Alexander
Nevsky (1938), and Ivan the Terrible (released in two parts,
1944 and 1958). In his concept of film montage, images, perhaps independent
of the "main" action, are presented for maximum psychological impact.1944 U-424 sunk off Ireland.

^1650René
Descartes, 53. mathematician, scientist, and philosopher
("I think therefore I am"), born on 31 March 1596, stops thinking.
Because he was one of the first to oppose
scholastic Aristotelianism, he has been called the father of modern
philosophy. He began by methodically doubting knowledge based on authority,
the senses, and reason, then found certainty in the intuition that,
when he is thinking, he exists; this he expressed in the famous statement
“I think, therefore I am.” He developed a dualistic system in which
he distinguished radically between mind, the essence of which is thinking,
and matter, the essence of which is extension in three dimensions.
Descartes's metaphysical system is intuitionist, derived by reason
from innate ideas, but his physics and physiology, based on sensory
knowledge, are mechanistic and empiricist.
One of his friends was the poet Jean-Louis Guez de Balzac [1597 –
18 Feb 1654], who dedicated his Le
Socrate chrétien (1652) to Descartes. — read
the story of his life and get links to his writings at MORE
4 TODAY

1626 Cataldi,
mathematician.1554 Lady Jane Grey, deposed Queen
of England, beheaded after 9 day rule 1543 Ahmed Gran,
sultan of Adal, dies in battle 0867 Theodora the Saint,
beauty queen/empress of Byzantine. 0824 St Paschal I,
Pope 0821 Benedict
of Aniane, 73, saint 0731 Saint Gregory II,
Greek-Syrian born in 669, elected Pope on 19 May 715. He had served as subdeacon
and treasurer of the church. As pope, he greatly encouraged the Christianizing
of Germany by Saint Boniface and Saint Corbinian, whom he consecrated bishops
in 722. Though a staunch adherent of the Eastern Roman Empire, he vigorously
and successfully opposed the Byzantine emperor Leo III the Isaurian [678
– 18 Jun 741], who ordered all holy images to be destroyed, launching
the Iconoclastic Controversy. Gregory condemned Leo's act, resulting in
Leo plotting against his life. Supported by the Romans and the Lombards,
Gregory fought Iconoclasm until his death, but as the 8th century advanced,
the split between Rome and Constantinople worsened. 0641
Heraclius, 65, emperor of Byzantium (610-641)

^1921
Lloyd Bentsen (Senator-D-TX) (1989 Democratic Vice-Presidential
nominee) Lloyd Bentsen was nominated by President Bill Clinton to
be the 69th Secretary of the Treasury. He served from 20 January 1993
until 22 December 1994 Secretary
Bentsen had been a United States Senator from Texas since 1971 and
Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee since 1987. He served as
Chairman of the Joint Committee on Taxation and the Joint Economic
Committee and was a member of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation
Committee. In 1988, he was the Democratic Party nominee for Vice President
of the United States. Bentsen received a law degree from the University
of Texas School of law in 1942.
With World War II underway, he enlisted in the US Army. After brief
service as a private in intelligence work in Brazil, he became a pilot
and in early 1944 began flying combat missions in B-24s from southern
Italy with the 449th Bomb Group. At age 23 he was promoted to the
rank of Major and given command of a squadron of 600 men. In 18 months
of combat, Bentsen flew 35 missions against highly defended targets
such as the Ploesti oil fields in Romania, which were critical to
the German war machine. The 15th Air Force, to which the 449th was
attached, is credited with destroying all the gasoline production
within its range, or about half Germany's fuel on the continent. Bentsen's
unit also flew against communications centers, aircraft factories,
and industrial targets in Germany, Italy, Austria, Czechoslovakia,
Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria. Bentsen participated in bombing raids
in support of the Anzio campaign, and flew against targets in preparation
for the landing in southern France. He was promoted to colonel in
the Air Force Reserve before completing his military service.
After the war, Bentsen returned to
his native Rio Grande Valley. He served the people of his home area
from 1947 to 1955, first as Hidalgo County Judge and then as Congressman.
Following three successive terms in the US House of Representatives,
he declined to seek reelection in 1954 and decided to begin a career
in business. For 16 years, Bentsen was a businessman in Houston. By
1970, he had become President of Lincoln Consolidated, a financial
holding institution. Following his successful campaign for the Senate
that year, he resigned all management positions and directorships.
Secretary Bentsen was born in Mission, Texas. He and his wife, B.A.,
the former Beryl Ann Longino of Lufkin, Texas, have three children.
http://www.ustreas.gov/opc/opc0029.html

1920 Farouk I Cairo, last King of Egypt (1936-1952). He
died on 29 January 1959. 1915 Hamming,
mathematician.1916 Sidney Sheldon, author.1909 Gustave Singier, French painter and stage designer
of Belgian birth, who died on 10 May 1984. — more
with link to images. 1909 Claude
Chevalley, mathematician. 1897 Post,
mathematician. 1891 Privalov,
mathematician.1881 Carlo Dalmazzo Carrà, Italian
Futurist
painter who died on 13 April 1966.  MORE
ON CARRÀ AT ART 4 FEBRUARY (in italiano) with links to images.1876 Harold
Gilman, British painter who died on 12 February 1919. 
MORE
ON GILMAN AT ART 4 FEBRUARY
with links to images.1872 Christian J. Walter, US
artist who died in 1938. 1862 Macaulay,
mathematician.1855 Erik Theodor Werenskiold,
Norwegian artist who died on 23 November 1938. — more
with link to images.

^1847
Thomas Alva Edison, inventor of more than 1200 patented
ideas including the electric light bulb, phonograph; "Genius is 1%
inspiration and 99% perspiration."
Thomas Edison would have a tremendous impact on modern technology.
During his teenage years, the only source of electricity was a few
weak batteries. By the time he died in 1931, radio, telephone, and
electric lights had all become everyday items, largely thanks to his
own efforts. The partially deaf son of a poor family, Edison had little
formal education. At age sixteen, he took a job as a telegraph operator,
where his hearing problems led him to experiment with ways to improve
telegraph equipment. His successful innovations eventually led him
to New York City, where he consulted with various telegraph companies
and eventually started his own research lab. He held a record number
of patents, including more than 300 for electric light and power,
nearly 200 for the phonograph, 150 for the telegraph, 141 for storage
batteries, and several dozen for the telephone. He also developed
key components of motion picture technology. Edison died on 18 October
1931.

1841 Jozef von Brandt, Polish artist who died in 1915.1839 Gibbs,
mathematician.1813 Otto Ludwig, German novelist, playwright,
critic, who died on 25 February 1865.1812 Alexander Hamilton
Stephens Vice President (Confederacy), died in 1883 1805
Jean-Baptiste Charbonneau, son of Boinaiv Sacagawea Charbonneau
and Toussaint Charbonneau. Carried on the back of his mom, the newborn would
be the youngest member of the Lewis and Clark expedition.
1800 Talbot,
mathematician.1791 Francesco Hayez, Italian historical
painter and printmaker who died on 12 December 1882.  MORE
ON HAYEZ AT ART 4 FEBRUARY
with links to images.1746 Luis Paret y Alcazar,
Spanish artist who died on 14 February 1799. 1721 Friedrich
Wilhelm Hirt, German artist who died on 19 January 1772.1699 François Mahé de la Bourdonnais, à Saint-Malo, navigateur
et explorateur.1657 Bernard
Le Bovier (or Bouyer), sieur de Fontenelle French mathematician,
scientist, and man of letters who died on 09 January 1757. He was described
by Voltaire as the most universal mind of the era of Louis XIV. His works
set forth in embryonic form many of the characteristics ideas of the Enlightenment.
His most famous book is Entretiens
sur la pluralité des mondes (1686; 213kb _ at
another site, 234kb), entertaining dialogues backing the Copernican
system on the basis of the Cartesian theory of vortices which would be refuted
by Newton's Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica (1687)
of Isaac
Newton [04 Jan 1643 = 25 Dec 1642 Julian – 31 Mar 1727 = 20 Mar
1727 Julian]. — Portrait
du Philosophe Bernard Le Bouyer de Fontenelle (1400x1120pix, 163kb)
par Rigaud
[bap. 18 Jul 1659 – 29 Dec 1743].1637 Jakob
van Oost, Flemish artist who died on 29 September 1713.
1535 Gregory
XIV [Niccolò Spondrati], pope (1590-1591)

Thoughts for today:Time is really the only capital that any human being
has, and the one thing that he can't afford to lose. 
Thomas Alva Edison [11 Feb 1847 – 18 Oct 1931].“Djente blanku no ta kurason.” —
proverbio papiamentu

QUESTION
AND ANSWERTeacher to student:
Arnold what is the most frequent answer to the teacher's questions? Arnold:
I don't know, ma'am. Teacher:
Correct!